The present invention relates to an ablation process involving bristles on a mascara brush and to a brush obtained by the process.
Mascara is conventionally packaged in a small container equipped with scraping element. A brush is normally integrally connected to a capsule equipped with a rod that screws into the container. When the brush is extracted from the container, an internal radial lip of the scraping element is applied against the bristles of the brush to remove any excess mascara.
For the same internal diameter, the scraping element, by being rubbed against the brush, is able to scrape off more excess product from a brush having long bristles than one with short bristles. On the one hand, the short bristles, or the interstices between bristles, are needed to store product to be applied to the user""s eyelashes. On the other hand, long bristles are needed to properly comb and separate the eyelashes.
There is, therefore, a need for a mascara brush that is capable of meeting the users"" needs.
One embodiment of the present invention comprises a brush that is capable of applying a significant amount of mascara in a single application to give volume to the eyelashes.
Another embodiment of the present invention comprises a brush capable of combing and separating the eyelashes, curling the eyelashes, and capable of applying a uniform layer of mascara, at low cost.
One other embodiment of the present invention comprises a process that comprises twisting a plastically deformable wire, typically of metal, so that it imprisons fibers within it, with the parts of the fibers projecting from the wire forming bristles in a helicoidal spiral, and shaving off some of the bristles in predefined angular sectors by using the twisted wire to guide components causing the total or partial ablation of the bristles.
Another embodiment of the present invention comprises a tool for ablation of the bristles that is strong enough not to be damaged by the wire and that does not destroy the wire by dislocating the brush. Guidance of the tool may be direct, mechanical, for example, by using a cutting tool such as a blade, milling tool, or grinding wheel on the wire. In the case of xe2x80x9ccontact freexe2x80x9d ablation by laser beam, ultrasound, or water jet, guidance of the ablation tool may be provided, for example, by a probe resting on the wire or by an automatic control device comprising a mechanism, such as an optical mechanism, to detect the position of the wire.
One manufacturing process for manufacturing a mascara brush of the present invention comprises: positioning the bristles parallel to one another, and shifting the bristles longitudinally and between two segments of at least one plastically deformable wire, the bristles being roughly perpendicular to the wire; twisting the plastically deformable wire so as to form with the bristles a helicoidal spiral, characterized in that it also includes making a partial or total ablation in angular sectors of the helicoidal spiral formed by the bristles by the horizontal motion of at least one cutting element, with the cutting component being guided by the twisted wire.
The manufacturing process of the present invention is characterized in that it comprises simultaneously implementing multiple cutting elements in order to form simultaneously several sectors that are free of bristles or that are provided with shorter bristles. The multiple cutting elements are distributed at regular angles about the axis of the plastically deformable twisted wire. In one embodiment, the cutting element is a blade. The blade is positioned tangentially to the axis of the plastically deformable twisted wire. The blade forms an acute angle in relation to the axis of the plastically deformable wire.
Another embodiment of the present invention includes a process characterized in that the brush is introduced in a bore formed in a part whose inner diameter is greater than the diameter of the plastically deformable twisted wire and smaller than the outer diameter of the brush bristles, deployed in such a way as to bend the bristles and center the brush, and in which step the bent bristles are cut. The blades are positioned at the outlet of the bore.
For one embodiment of the process of the present invention, a tube includes an opening permitting application of a cutting tool on the brush whose bristles are to be shaved off.
For another embodiment of the process of the present invention, the opening is a narrow longitudinal opening which selects the bristles with an angle xcex2, corresponding to the sector in which ablation of the bristles is to take place. For some embodiments, the process implements multiple longitudinal openings, each of which corresponds to a separate cutting tool. The process further includes a step to center the brush whose bristles are to be cut between multiple cutting components positioned at regular angles around the brush whose bristles are to be cut.
The process also includes applying a rotary tool chosen from the set comprising a circular saw, a milling tool, and a grinding wheel. The rotary cutting tool penetrates the narrow opening. The rotary tool is disk-shaped and is applied with the edge to the plastically deformable twisted wire.
Another embodiment of the present invention is likewise a mascara brush including angular sectors provided with bristles having a first length, and sectors free of bristles or provided with bristles that are shorter than the bristles of the sector. For one embodiment of the mascara brush, the sectors with bristles are distributed at regular angles about the axis of a plastically deformable twisted wire.
One other process is characterized in that the opening is a narrow longitudinal opening which selects the bristles with an angle, corresponding to the sector in which ablation of the bristles is to take place. For one embodiment, the process is characterized in that it implements multiple longitudinal openings, each of which corresponds to a separate cutting tool. The process is further characterized in that it includes centering the brush whose bristles are to be cut between multiple cutting components positioned at regular angles around the brush whose bristles are to be cut. The process is further characterized in that it includes a step comprising application of a rotary tool chosen from the set comprising a circular saw, a milling tool, and a grinding wheel. The rotary cutting tool penetrates the narrow opening.
The process is further characterized in that the rotary tool is disk-shaped and in that it is applied with the edge to the plastically deformable twisted wire.
Another embodiment of the present invention is likewise a mascara brush including angular sectors provided with bristles having a first length, and sectors free of bristles or provided with bristles that are shorter than the bristles of the sector. The mascara brush is characterized in that the sectors with bristles are distributed at regular angles about the axis of a plastically deformable twisted wire.
The invention shall be better understood with the aid of the following description and the attached drawings given by way of nonlimiting examples.